Grind meat through a fine plate. Mix spices together and add to meat with the rest of the ingredients. Mix well. Stuff into hog casings. Link and place in simmering water for 20 minutes. Remove and cool under cold running water until cool to touch. Separate the links and package.

Cube pork butt into one and a half inch cubes. Using a meat grinder with four one quarter inch holes in the grinding plate, grind pork and pork fat. If you do not have a grinding plate this size, I suggest hand cutting pork butt into one quarter inch square pieces. Place ground pork in large mixing bowl and blend in all remaining ingredients. Once well blended, stuff meat into casings in one foot links, using the sausage attachment on your meat grinder. Tie both ends of the sausage securely using a heavy gauge twine. In your home-style smoker, smoke andouille at 175-200F for approximately four to five hours using pecan or hickory wood. The andouille may then be frozen and used for seasoning gumbos, white or red beans, pastas or grilling as an hors d'oeuvre. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - NOTES : Andouille is the Cajun smoked sausage so famous nationally today. Made with pork butt, shank and a small amount of pork fat, this sausage is seasoned with salt, cracked black pepper and garlic. The andouille is then slowly smoked over pecan wood and sugar cane. True andouille is stuffed into the beef middle casing which makes the sausage approximately one and a half inches in diameter. When smoked, it becomes very dark to almost black in color. It is not uncommon for the Cajuns to smoke andouille for seven to eight hours at approximately 175F. Traditionally, the andouilles from France were made from the large intestines and stomach of the pig, seasoned heavily and smoked. In parts of Germany, where some say andouille originated, the sausage was made with all remaining intestines and casings pulled through a larger casing, seasoned and smoked. It was served thinly slic

To make all-beef frankfurters, cut the nearly-frozen meat into inch chunks then grind them through a 1/4" plate. Grind ‘em again through a 1/8" plate using a little ice water to keep the plate and knives cool. Mix all the dry ingredients together with the Prague Powder then stir the mixture into some of the ice water for even distribution in the meat. Finally, mix every ingredient together, including the meat, making sure the curing agent is distributed entirely throughout the sausage. Emulsify the sausage in small batches inside a food processor, using ice water as needed to thin the mixture slightly and reduce the stress on the motor. Do not over process the meat. When a sticky paste develops, start another batch.

Stuff the sausage into 38 m.m. clear synthethic fibrous casings or plastic casings in desired lengths. Our gang always liked "foot longs". Hang the franks inside your kitchen thirty minutes, then place them into 200° F. (93° C.) water until the internal meat temperature reaches 150° F. (66° C.). Use a probe-type thermometer with cable and alarm. (Poulder is about 30 dollars U.S.). Immediately, immerse them in icewater, lowering the internal meat temperature to room temperature. Strip off the plastic and allow a slight pellicle to bloom before refrigerating them overnight.

This sausage is simple and phenomenal. It's a recipe which shows up on the internet in several places; the original, anonymous author used the distinctive words "ur-recipe" in the recipe header, which makes the text easy to track on Google. the earliest copy I can find is from 2003, at

This is the classic Sicilian recipe for sausage, the ur-recipe to
what is sold throughout the United States as "Italian sausage."
In Italy, families, especially in the south, still make their own
sausages frequently.

Because pigs today are grown quite lean, it is necessary to add
pork fat in order to make a truly wonderful tasting sausage. Sausages
are made in a 3-to-1 ratio of meat to fat. If you reduce the fat
below this ratio, your sausage will taste dry and crumbly.

Hog casings can be bought from supermarket butchers or any butcher
who makes sausages. They are already cleaned and all you need to do
is rinse away the preserving salts. Make sure all the ingredients,
especially the meat, are very cold, including the grinder or food
processor blade. Place the blade in the freezer until needed. This
prevents the meat and the fat from homogenizing together, looking
like a pâté.

The only specialized equipment you will need is a meat grinder/sausage
stuffing attachment, which is sold as an accessory to many electric
mixers.

1. In a large bowl, toss together thoroughly the pork butt, fatback,
fennel, salt, black pepper, pecorino, red pepper flakes, and wine,
cover with plastic wrap, and leave refrigerated for 4 hours or
overnight for the flavors to blend.

2. Open one end of the hog casing, fit it over the faucet in your
kitchen sink, and place the remainder of the casing in a medium-size
bowl in the sink. Turn the water on gently to wash out the casings.
The casings are sold cleaned; you are merely washing away preserving
salts and residue. Now you are ready to start stuffing.

3. Affix one end of the casing over the funnel attached to the sausage
stuffing attachment of a stand mixer or meat grinder. Push the entirety
of the casing onto the length of the funnel (it will contract and fit
fine), leaving about 2 inches dangling from the end. Tie this end in a
double knot.

4. Turn the grinder or mixer on and as the sausage stuffing begins to
flow into the casing, it will push the casing off the funnel. Have a
large bowl or platter ready to catch the sausages. Twist or tie off
the sausage with kitchen twine to make links, or leave to make several
very long sausages. Do not overstuff the sausage otherwise it will
burst, either then and there, or during cooking. Also be careful that
the sausage stuffing enters the casing continuously and evenly and
that no air bubbles develop. If air bubbles do occur, it is better
either to cut the sausage at that point and start a new one, by tying
the end off, or to prick the air bubbles with a toothpick.

5. The sausages can be divided into portions of different or the same
weights and frozen for later use in freezer bags for 2 to 4 months or
you can cook them immediately. Refrigerate for not more than 2 days.
If cooking them, place the sausages in a large pot and cover with water.
Bring to a boil and, just as the water begins to bubble, reduce the heat
to below a boil and poach the sausages for 10 minutes, if grilling or
frying, or 40 minutes if serving them boiled.

Note: For grilling sausages, prepare a charcoal fire or preheat a gas
grill on low for 20 minutes. Grill the sausages for 45 minutes, turning
frequently. (If using a charcoal fire, the sausages should be 6 to 8
inches away from the coals).

This post is written in response to a PM from paul10june. Nothing in this post is new. It is a collection of facts and ideas stolen from other and a proof that if you read this forum for long enough you will learn something.

Ingredients:

Tapioca starch came from a post way back when, from Richard (sausage maker) and I have since been told that the use of TS is confirmed by a post from ParsonsSnows, two people of impeccable credentials as far as I am concerned. Recommended use 3% of meat weight (30 gms per kilo). When TS is used it seems to help the development of myosin when mixing. (That is to say makes your mix like a sausage from the butchers, rather than a burger).

I have always found water to be a help regardless of the addition of rusk.

For added succulence gelatine made as per makers’ instructions (you could try more), from a suggestion by Dave (saucisson) and from Wal Footrot, in a fascinating thread about Oddley’s search for a long forgotten sav. Wal suggested an addition of braw for extra succulence.

And Oddley in a thread re Cumberland sausage suggesting phosphate.

I personally find gelatine a bit of a faff, but it does make a bit of a difference.

When I have run out of phosphate I am not too sure I will buy any more.

So why low fat sausage.

1. You just happen to have some meat with ‘insufficient’ fat.
2. You need to follow a reduced or low fat diet. In which case you will not be concerned about rusk.
3. You are following a low calorie diet, in which case it should be noted that rusk contains 2.5 - 3.0 times more calories than - for instance turkey breast. So you might consider a high meat content sausage.

Low fat sausage - in a particular diet.

Slimming World is a systems using so called syns (registered trademark), and unless you have access to the online database or their book, it is difficult to tell how you score, but two Tesco low fat sausages is one syn on some days and possible none on others.

Weighwatchers is a points system - so I suppose you could blow your points on an appropriate sized block of lard, or more usefully 9 bottles of beer! They give you a calculator and you enter the fat content and fiber (their spelling).

Suppliers are not accredited, merely licensed to use the WW name, logo, and number of WW points per pack. Companies like Heinz, Greencore in the UK who produce 100 million ready meals per year, and McDonalds in New Zealand. So because it is difficult to fine fiber content of self made meals, people tend to buy ready packaged stuff.
Meat to use.

Leg of Pork trimmed of all skin a visible fat. IMO makes the best all round l/f sausages at a bit less than 2% fat.
Skinless turkey breast give very similar results to pork, and is a bit lower in fat at about 1.4%.
Skinless chicken breast is very low in fat, as is chicken thigh but IMO you need a chicken specific recipe.
Leg of lamb trimmed of all visible fat is also fairly low but is expensive by the time it is trimmed.
Game is generally low in fat and usually expensive, and best used with specific recipes.

If you go into the supermarket and look at the ‘healthy options’ ‘ be good to yourself’ etc. and note the fat content, you can usually find the same thing elsewhere on the shelves a lot cheaper. Read labels and get ideas.

Recipes listed below are guides, water in particular, will vary from meat to meat and even batch to batch. All are listed as percentages because when you start the only known is the weight of meat. So if you have 527 gms of meat and this is 88.9% of sausage, then the weight of the sausage will be 592gms. So here are some suggestions -

You can vary the amount of rusk and therefore water to suite your own taste, and you can use any spice and/or herb mix you find on the forum or sold by the shop, or any other supplier. But beware mixes that are rusk included. Just remember when using TS water uptake can vary. All water quantities in my recipes are a guide. Go by feel - don’t worry if you need more or less water, but it you do overwater chuck in a bit more rusk but be careful.

I hope this is of help to those who don’t wish to give up their sausages, and for the rest of us fat buggers - low fat sausages mean to can drink more beer!

Jim

Last edited by johnfb on Mon Nov 29, 2010 12:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly, put into a ziplock bag in the fridge and massage once a day for four or five days. Remove from bag and rinse under the tap before hanging in the fridge to dry for about a week. Easy-Peasy!
Cut into chunks and add to soups, rice, noodles etc. (try to avoid eating it all raw after a few whisky'sWink)
I made another batch a few weeks ago which I cold-smoked for 3-4 hours for extra deliciousness!
Now I'm only a beginner but if you're going to make sausages I would imagine you'd need to reduce the quantities above as technically its a recipe for a marinade/brine and so all of the ingredients don't get absorbed by the pork.

I wonder if this could be altered to make a fermented sausage?. It might become a bit sour due to the amount of sugar?

Anyway, This is one of my favourite recipes so far and it's great to have a few strips of this spiced pork in the freezer to tart up a lunch or supper.

Hope this helps

Last edited by johnfb on Mon Nov 29, 2010 12:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.